(Guy Busby, Press-Register)Foley officials plan to use a Federal Aviation Administration grant for a $300,000 taxiway extension project at the municipal airport. The project will allow the airport to expand the number of hangars. The city now has 68 applicants on waiting lists for 24 aircraft storage hangars. FOLEY, Ala. -- Extending the Foley Municipal Airport taxiway is the start of an effort to deal with the demand for hangars and other facilities in south Baldwin, according to city officials.

The project to extend the taxiway to the south will cost about $300,000, according to city estimates. Most of that cost will come from a Federal Aviation Administration grant, city airport manager Joe Bouzan said.

Extending the taxiway will allow the city to build 10 more hangars when the money is available, Bouzan said.

"We anticipate getting the hangars later on when we have more funds," Bouzan said. "This will allow us to build the infrastructure we need around those hangars."

Bouzan told City Council members that the Federal Aviation Administration has already approved $251,045 for the first phase of the project. He said the FAA cannot make a commitment for additional funds, but officials have told him that Congress is expected to authorize a total of $296,875 by the grant's application deadline of July 15.

He said a grant of $296,875 would leave about $7,800 to be paid by the city.

The City Council voted March 1 to authorize spending up to $46,000 on the work.

Hangars are in short supply for aircraft owners in south Baldwin County, Bouzan said. Foley now has 24 hangars and a waiting list of 68.

That list includes 37 names of people waiting on one of the 16 small hangars and 31 for the eight large hangars. The two lists, however, include some duplication with applicants signing up for both large and small hangars in anticipation of whatever will be available first, he said.

The small hangars cost $2,000 a year to rent. The annual rental fee for the large hangars is $2,500.

The City Council increased the rental fees in 2009.

The airport's only runway is bordered on the north by Baldwin County 24 and the south by Airport Road. Bouzan said city officials have room to extend the 3,700-foot runway by about 400 feet, but that distance would not be enough to improve services at the facility.

The longer of two runways at the Jack Edwards Airport in Gulf Shores is 6,972 feet, according to FAA reports. Fairhope's Sonny Callahan Airport has a 6,604-foot runway.